The invention relates to a computer-enabled approach for updating a calendar or task status via a mobile tablet or telephony.
Computer-enabled calendar systems date to the early days of software. In the 1990s and thereafter, a growing number of online calendar systems have been introduced which enable a user to, among other functions, create new events and tasks, schedule with other users, and send and receive reminders. Many of these calendars are now available online, such as that provided by Google Calendar, wherein they allow access across geographies and via any Internet-enabled terminal.
A problem with existing online calendar systems is in their management of “tasks”, which may be defined as an assignment of work to-be-completed with an assigned date on which the work is to be completed and/or started and/or in-progress, and at least one complete or incomplete state. As defined herein, tasks are a superset which contains “events” which are typically meetings or scheduled occurrences in which the work to-be-completed primarily or exclusively involves attendance or participation in the event itself (i.e. a meeting). An important differentiator between events and tasks which are not events, which are often referred to as “to do's” and which we shall call “non-event tasks”, is that non-event tasks lend themselves to tracking via checklists, a well-known and remarkably effective and simple way to track outstanding and completed tasks, wherein it is generally not effective or useful to track events via checklists (i.e. a checklist of outstanding and/or completed meetings).
A subtle but important oversight is that the existing online calendar systems such as Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar and others have built rich functional capabilities for the management of events such as the ability to create recurring series of events (i.e. a meeting that occurs every Monday at 10:00 AM) or the ability to send invitations to a variety of attendees, but have not introduced similar capabilities for the management of non-event tasks. Conversely, existing calendar systems have introduced functionality such as checklists for non-event tasks which have not been created for events. This introduces a significant shortcoming, particularly in the creation of work management systems that provide the ease of use and flexibility of a calendar interface with the work tracking capabilities of checklists. In particular, the inventor finds that it is an important shortcoming of the existing art that no existing online calendar systems enable the ability to create recurring non-event tasks in a computer-enabled system with a checklist interface that allows a user to mark the status of a task (including but not limited to marking the status of a task as complete).
Moreover, today, computer-enabled online calendar systems are only accessible via a computer terminal with a visual interface such as a computer monitor and require some form of Internet connection. As there are today no means of creating recurring non-event tasks in a calendar system and managing their completion via a checklist interface, it follows that there are no means of interfacing with said new inventive systems via any means. It would be advantageous if the aforementioned problem was solved and moreover if the functionality could be accessible by a remote computer terminal connected to the Internet. Moreover, for situations in which a remote computer terminal connected to the Internet is difficult or cost-prohibitive, it would be advantageous if there were other means to interface with said inventive online calendar functionality.
While there exists simple clock-in and clock-out functionality via telephony relative to expected work times and/or times of worker's shift, such as that provided by Santrax (www.santrax.com), there is presently no way to access such calendar systems with task-level specificity via telephony. Solutions such as Santrax have existed for many years without solving the problem of task-level specificity, nor have they solved the aforementioned problems with the treatment of non-event tasks. These are critical oversights that significantly reduce the usefulness of the known art.
By way of example and without limitation, in the in-home health care industry, solutions like Santrax are used to track clock-in and clock-out times relative to shifts using telephony to update the clock-in or clock-out status of a remote caregiver. While this system allows specification of work shifts and remote updates of clock-in and clock-out status, the detailed tasks that comprise a care plan cannot be updated via the remote telephony system. There are complex challenges associated with enabling such a system, such as text-to-voice automated translation of tasks in a care plan, which heretofore have not been solved.
Additionally, again considering without limitation the present example of in-home care agency management software, today there does not exist a flexible, easy-to-use calendar system that allows the specification of non-event tasks with features like recurrence of an event at specific times during specific days of the week, weeks in the month, etc. and the ability to update status in an easy-to-use electronic checklist. To have such a system would provide flexibility and ease-of-use that today does not exist for the service of the in-home care agency industry.
Additionally, considering without limitation the present example of in-home care agency management software, today there exists a need for obtaining a verification, such as an electronic signature, to help ensure that updates to the status of shift(s) and/or non-event task(s) are accurate. By way of example, many regulatory bodies and insurers require the signature of the care recipient as a condition of providing payment to a provider of in-home care. One reason they require the signature of the care recipient is as verification means to help ensure that the care was provided as reported by the caregiver and/or agency. Also what is needed is a paperless way of determining what non-event tasks the caregiver has performed and verifying it via the signature of the care recipient. Moreover, there is a problem to be solved of obtaining a verification means, such as an electronic signature, that minimizes the potential for fraud or falsification. Thus, there exists a need for a paperless system which allows the comprehensive reporting of clock-in times, clock-out times, non-event task completion status, and fraud-resistant verification, preferably consisting of an electronic signature obtainable from the care recipient.
These shortcomings with the existing art lead to many problems including very limited transparency and control over the care plan to stakeholders such as in-home care managers, healthcare providers, and the family members of a patient or client. Moreover, in the example of the in-home care industry, these shortcomings today are addressed via mechanisms like paper care journals which reside in the home of the patient and which are periodically updated by caregivers. The paper care journals are often overlooked by caregivers and the in-home care managers and the families of the patients have no visibility to the care provided and the tasks performed. This industry example illustrates the very significant and important problems with the existing art, and the quality of care can be significantly improved by solving these problems.
Thus, what is needed is an approach to addressing these shortcomings and of work management systems with ease of use, flexibility, and cost-effective accessibility in a plurality of locations. As will be seen, the invention provides such an approach in an elegant manner.